South Korean President Walks Across North Korean Border

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has taken a symbolic set of steps crossing the fortified border to North Korea, on his way to a summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Il. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

President Roh became the first South Korean leader to cross into the North on foot Tuesday. After stepping out of his car to cross the border, he said his footsteps will set a precedent.

He says more people will one day cross the border, just as he is doing, and the wall between North and South will fall.

His motorcade then resumed its trip to Pyongyang. The president is to be there until Thursday for the countries' first summit meeting in seven years.

A 2000 summit led to increased inter-Korean contacts, fueled by billions of dollars of South Korean aid and investment in the North.

Mr. Roh says the main purpose of this meeting is to work toward a permanent peace between the two Koreas. A 1953 armistice halted three years of fighting after North Korea invaded the South, but no peace treaty was signed.